The Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) was an organization founded in 1960 under the leadership of Archbishop Iakovos (Coucouzis) of America and designed to help cooperation among the several Orthodox Christian jurisdictions to be found in the Americas. It acted as a clearinghouse for educational, charitable, and missionary work in the Americas. Its member hierarchs met semi-annually for discussion and decisions on inter-Orthodox and ecumenical matters, to review the work of its commissions and dialogues, and to plan future events.

In November of 1994, at the famous Ligonier Meeting at the Antiochian Village in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, the hierarchs of SCOBA voted together in terms of forming an Orthodox Church of America, a single holy synod and church administration for all Orthodox Christians living in America, declaring themselves no longer to be a diaspora but rather a missionary church.